Sunset Series at Dell Quay Sailing Club
by James Pound 21 Aug 18:25 NZST
Sunset Series at Dell Quay Sailing Club © James Pound
Dell Quay Sailing Club ran a new series for 2026 over four mid-week evenings. To say the 'Sunset Series' was a success would be a huge understatement! With 30 individual boats registered over the four evenings it was hugely popular and with a varied fleet and across all ages.
Every race was also sailed in near perfect conditions with plenty of breeze and sunshine. As always helped by our amazing members running RO duties and Safety crew with the bar open every night too!
The last race of the series was always going to be hotly contested by Roger Puttock and Simon Verrall, only Simon was sadly laid up in his bed apparently fighting of the plague, so the series was Roger's for the taking... only he didn't bank on Sarah Martindale in her Pico Sport rocking up and stealing his thunder with a blinding first place!! What a race she had, in her own words outside of her comfort zone, she kept the metal above the plastic, sailed it like she stole it and nailed it - huge congratulations Sarah, you may need to buy Roger a pint, he missed out on the series win by 0.7 of a point (average points for doing a duty on the first race).
So the series win goes to Simon Verrall (from his death bed!) (Solo) second place to Roger Puttock (Solo) and third place to Mark Gardner (Solo) (out of the 30 boats registered, 14 were Solos).
What a great event and will be in the calendar for sure for 2027, why not join in! Visit www.dellquaysc.co.uk to find out more.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Type | PY | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 6001 | SOLO | 1139 | Simon Verrall | | 1 | 2 | 1 | (DNC) | 4 |
| 2 | 6101 | SOLO | 1139 | Roger Puttock | | RDG | 1 | ‑2 | 2 | 4.7 |
| 3 | 5735 | SOLO | 1139 | Mark Gardner | | 4 | 4 | ‑5 | 3 | 11 |
| 4 | 72 | Pico Sport | 1330 | Sarah Martindale | | 8 | ‑9 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| 5 | 5840 | SOLO | 1139 | Brendan Chaplin | | 7 | 11 | 4 | (DNC) | 22 |
| 6 | 3297 | RS Aero 5 | 1141 | Sue Manning | | 14 | 5 | 6 | (DNC) | 25 |
| 7 | 5952 | SOLO | 1139 | Noel Wright | | 9 | 6 | (DNC) | RET | 26 |
| 8 | 6060 | SOLO | 1139 | John Purdy | | 6 | 7.5 | RDG | (DNC) | 28.3 |
| 9 | 5836 | SOLO | 1139 | Mark Harper | | 2 | RDG | (DNC) | RDG | 35 |
| 10 | 5867 | SOLO | 1139 | Steve Holcroft | | 3 | 3 | (DNC) | DNC | 37 |
| 11 | 133186 | Laser | 1103 | Mark Hitchin | | 16 | 14 | (DNC) | 7 | 37 |
| 12 | 5168 | SOLO | 1139 | Max Manning | | 13 | (DNC) | 7 | DNC | 51 |
| 13 | 54 | FINN | 1049 | Andrew Buchanan | | 11 | (DNC) | 9 | DNC | 51 |
| 14 | 6077 | SOLO | 1139 | Carol Andrews | | 12 | 10 | (DNC) | DNC | 53 |
| 15 | 4957 | SOLO | 1139 | David Swift | | 15 | 12 | (DNC) | DNC | 58 |
| 16 | 706 | RS 400 | 945 | Jon Wilburn | Lawrence Kies | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 4 | 66 |
| 17 | 160692 | Laser | 1103 | Nick Pearson | | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 5 | 67 |
| 18 | 5432 | SOLO | 1139 | Nikki Buchanan | | 5 | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 67 |
| 19 | 6025 | SOLO | 1139 | John Ellis | | RET | RET | (DNC) | DNC | 67 |
| 20 | 172691 | LASER RADI | 1156 | Archie Pearson | | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 6 | 68 |
| 21 | 4811 | SOLO | 1139 | Fred Hilgers | | (DNC) | 7.5 | DNC | DNC | 69.5 |
| 22 | 437 | RS 400 | 945 | Alessandro Schmitt | Gabriel Collinson | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 8 | 70 |
| 23 | 2883 | RS Aero 6 | 1098 | Hilary Sparkes | | (DNC) | DNC | 8 | DNC | 70 |
| 24 | 1304 | RS Aero 5 | 1141 | Michaela Heppenstall | | (DNC) | DNC | 10 | DNC | 72 |
| 25 | 2977 | GRADUATE S | 1155 | Roger Francis | Single hander | 10 | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 72 |
| 26 | 1898 | RS TERA SP | 1452 | sophia hillary | | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | RET | 73 |
| 27 | 3173 | FIREFLY | 1178 | Chris Fry | Hope Fry | (DNC) | DNC | 11 | DNC | 73 |
| 28 | 1327 | SUPERNOVA | 1075 | Duncan Llewelyn | | (DNC) | 13 | DNC | DNC | 75 |
| 29 | 171355 | Laser | 1103 | Peter Whatley | | 17 | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 79 |
| 30 | 4697 | RS Aero 5 | 1141 | Sue Wingrove | | RET | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 82 |
